The present invention relates to a chain rammer for ammunition wherein two separate chain strands are connected with a ram head and are driven by respective drive wheels of a rammer drive in a chain advance and a chain reversal direction.
Chain rammers including stiff-backed ram chains have been known for a long time and are employed as a pushing device for displacing and ramming large-caliber ammunition into automatic loading systems. They are employed specifically where limited space does not permit a ram rod, for example in a tank turret.
German Patents Nos. 173,815, 206,290 and 217,977 disclose chain rammers which are composed of a link chain equipped with a ram head and a ram drive. The link chain is arranged so that movement in the direction of the rammer causes the link chain to be joined into a rigid chain strand.
Such chain rammers are of a relatively costly construction in order to give them the necessary stiffness in the chain advance direction. Due to the use of only one chain, the rammer drives must be very robust and of a space consuming design. Finally, problems have arisen in connection with lateral chain paths since sufficient rigidity of the chain is difficult to realize for such operation. As a result, the chains are generally supplied from the bottom, with the axle of the drive wheel lying parallel to the bottom plate of the tank.
In order to overcome the drawbacks of the above-mentioned rammers, it has been proposed to employ two separate chain strands connected with a ram head on the driving side of the drive mechanism. On the intake side of the drive mechanism, the two separate chain strands are guided in rails which are adapted to the spatial conditions of the environment. The stiff back of the respective chain strand is based on the specific shape of the chain links which, combined into a chain strand, permit only a bending movement in one direction until they are stretched out. On the driven side, the chain strands lie rigidly next to one another without any mechanical connection. The chains are brought in by way of rammer drive wheels arranged horizontally relative to the bottom plate of the tank, and thus generally also relative to the ground.
Such chain rammers have the drawback that during the pushing movement the chain strands tend to roll and the two chain strands drift away from one another. This drawback increases with increasing pushing force and with increasing ram path length.